I went on a job interview at a reputable language school a few weeks ago. They allegedly had a number of positions open for English teaching at a government school which had received a special bilingual program grant from the MOE. Not more than 5 minutes into the interview, the subject matter changed from my qualifications and the position for which I was interviewing, into a sales pitch for a culture course being offered at the end of February. Of course, the interviewer exerted the usual pressure of insisting that you couldn't get a WP without having completed the culture course. He kept touting how great his school was in being able to offer the culture course and showed me all the materials that they forward onto the MOE upon their student's completion of the course. ...

Yesterday a student of mine came to me with a speech she was supposed to present at the opening ceremony of our town's Tomato Festival. Written by her Private teacher it was the usual concoction of over formal English with inapproriate long words. The student, new to my school, has been studying with this private tutor for 2 years which probably explains why she is 23rd out of 24th in my M3. anyway I sat with her and simplified the whole thing so at least she could read it and wouldn't lose her face.
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